


Ginsipid

by GreyscaleSky



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Gen, One-Sided Attraction, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 12:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13434849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyscaleSky/pseuds/GreyscaleSky
Summary: Sequel to Ginvincible. Tom goes to AA meetings for his alcoholism.





	Ginsipid

"My name's Tom and I'm an alcoholic."  
"Hi Tom." The miserable, off tune choir sang to him as he sat down on the folding chair, people without jobs or families that didn't bathe or eat properly sat next to him in a circle, with one thin, tight lipped woman holding a clipboard in the middle.  
Her hair was perfectly made into a bun, clothes impeccably tidy and clean with spare pens in her breast pocket and not a single swear word drawn on her clipboard, writing what Tom didn't know, or particularly want to know.  
"Anything else to add, Mister Ridge?" Tom thoughtfully put his finger to his lips for a moment and pursed them, then shook his head.  
"Nope, that's all I have." She made a show of rolling her eyes and writing something down, Tom bit his tongue to stop from reminding her that she wasn't a therapist and that there were other sad people here to talk to, he remembered the family therapist writing down 'refuses help' when he was a child and assumed she was writing something similar, _the bitch_.   
"People have reasons to drink." Tom shrugged again and avoided looking at her in her dead eyes.  
"I don't. I like to drink." He could tell she was getting angrier, she scowled hard at him and he had to look away to smirk.  
"You are being uncooperative." Tom shrugged again and sat down in his chair, looking around at the group, some were smiling or sniggering behind their hands, almost encouraging him to continue his childish argument with the woman, and as he'd been the class clown in primary he felt it was his calling in life.  
"Maybe it's because you're poking your beak into my business?" He snapped, one man laughed out loud and the therapist glared at him instead for a moment.  
"Mister Ridge, if you continue to act like this then I will remove you from this class." He felt like he was being talked down to, by a woman who wasn't even a real therapist, a woman who rather than laugh lines had scowl lines from being a moody, stuck up cunt her whole life, something about the way she spoke, condescending and nasally, set Tom off and suddenly he was stood up, staring her right in the eyes with his.  
"Go ahead then, because you're not fucking helping me or anyone in this group. You make out like you're a fucking therapist but you're not, you took one class and now you think everyone has issues with their parents or some shit. You don't care about us, we could go and solve our 'addictions' ourselves without you sitting there and pretending you're doing something. Remove me from your shitty meeting and I'll show you that I don't need some bitch with rotten teeth breathing down my neck and saying there's something wrong with me."  
He gripped the doorknob in his free hand, the other already on his phone and texting.  
"Thanks for wasting my day, cunt." He punctuated the insult with the door slamming and immediately stormed out of the wellness center, scowling and flushed from his rant, by the time he'd navigated through the stupid labryinth of sadness Tord had already seen his text message to pick him up and he almost threw himself onto the pavement to wait.  
He felt a sense of pride from his snap, proud that he'd finally told that woman how he actually felt and proud that he was now out of the meetings.  
He saw a few of the others from his room leaving shortly after, one even thanked him briefly before he left and it made Tom confused, maybe even a little concerned whether they could take care of themselves as well as he knew he could.  
"Get in you fittetryne." Tord looked like an angry father, Tom had never seen his own father angry before, just disappointed when he'd skipped school or been caught shoplifting and seeing someone so angrily open a door for him made his stomach turn, nevertheless he got in.  
"You said those meetings were helping you." Tord said after a while of silent driving, his fingers were gripping the steering wheel like he was thinking about it being Tom's neck, Tom probably wouldn't have minded at that point, it would have meant that he wouldn't have had to face Edd or Matt.  
"Yeah well they weren't. I don't have anything wrong with me."  
"Apart from all the drinking because you're a depressed piece of shit who refuses any help from anyone." And from then the ride was silent, Tom couldn't think of anything to say back because Tord didn't drink like he did, he could have said something about the smoking or excessive masturbation but it wouldn't have insulted him like he'd done to Tom, Tord didn't have a problem.  
The counsellor had said he'd had 'childhood trauma' and that he was 'drinking to escape his parents' but that was complete bollocks, just because his mum and dad worked most of his life didn't mean he had issues with them.  
"I didn't mean what I said. Sorry." Tord apologised quickly once they were back home and before Tom even had a chance to say anything back, like a rude insult, he was already gone. Whatever, he'd probably already told Edd and Matt anyway.  
"Hey Tom." Edd greeted cheerfully. Okay, maybe he hadn't said anything. "How was your meeting?" Tom nodded briefly at him and retreated to the kitchen.  
"It was fine, didn't talk to anyone though." He got himself a can of cheap cola, Matt was rooting through the cupboards for anything that wasn't out of date and Tom greeted him with a small kick to the back of his knees as they always did.  
He'd tell Edd later, he lied to himself, Matt was easy to talk to because he tended to forget things, but Edd didn't, so for the time being he retreated to his room and prayed that maybe he'd find another class, or anything to do to keep him out of the house for a few hours that wasn't drinking, he took a sip from the can.  
Oh god, he really wanted a drink.

He had to pass Tord's room to get to his, and Tord always left his door wide open during the summer because it got really hot in his room and the window didn't open, Tom was almost jealous of that because he was always cold and the radiator in his room didn't work, but he wouldn't ever want to trade with Tord, because there were probably so many jizz stains on his carpet he'd turned it white, or that's what Tom thought, because he never went into Tord's room.  
He looked through the corner of his eye to see the Norwegian was just spinning idly in his computer chair, head back and his eyes closed as he groaned.  
"Jeg gir opp med kunst. Jeg holder meg bare til programmering og metallarbeid." Tom had never bothered to learn his room mate's mother tongue, but for once Tord actually looked exhausted enough to warrant a nose in his business, so Tom stepped in, quietly avoiding the large boxes of torn apart electronics to put one hand on the back of the chair. There was one thing that Tom would admit to, and that was that Tord had a lot of artistic talent.  
Edd was an amazing artist, too, but the pair both drew such drastically different things so Tom felt it was fair to say Tord drew manga better than Edd, and Edd drew cartoons better than Tord.  
Tom wasn't actually sure what Tord's comic pages were for, he'd seen concept designs for his characters but had never asked or been too invested in it, but it seemed to be an action packed storyline if the page he'd been working on was anything to go by. A few scenes of monsters with claws and fangs and wings breathing down hails of acid and the like, and the human characters weren't even scantily clad.  
"Oh, that actually looks really decent." Tord jumped considerably.   
"Når i helvete kom du dit?!" He spun the chair, bumping Tom with the back.  
"Calm down spastic, I just wanted to see why you were complaining." He shrugged and sat himself down on his bed, right at the corner because Tord was disgusting. "Page doesn't look right." He grumbled and fiddled with his tablet pen, twisting the nub in his fingertips. Tom looked over again at the page and shrugged again. "I don't see anything wrong with it. It looks pretty cool to me." Tord raised his eyebrow at the compliment, but didn't question whether it was genuine or not, because he wasn't in any mood to squabble with him and he had a feeling that Tom, for once in his life, was genuinely being nice.  
"Her left eye is all wrong, and I just can't correct it." Tom moved to look closely at the main character, both eyes pointed directly towards the action.  
"I think it's because the little white bits aren't pointed towards the light source." Tom pointed with the tip of his nail and Tord almost looked mortified at the miniscule mistake he'd made.  
"Faen, I never noticed." His eyebrow twitched. Tom clapped his hand on his shoulder.  
"It's really tiny. Besides your eyes don't work right." He teased lightly, and Tord smirked.  
"You can't even see colours, bet you don't know what colour Sakaya's eyes are." Tom glared down at him and pushed the wheeled chair back along the hardwood floor until it hit the opposite wall, then took a glance at the character.  
"Are they...pink?" He hazarded a guess and Tord smiled triumphantly.  
"The comic isn't coloured."  
"You cheated!" Tom accused and kicked his shin but Tord continued to smile with pride and it made Tom laugh.

"So... did you tell Edd?" Tom stopped laughing abruptly and looked down at his shoes, which had suddenly become very interesting, was that puddle water on the lace?  
"You didn't." Tom shook his head. He suddenly realised there was gum on his left shoe when he lifted the front just slightly and felt it under his foot.  
"I'll just get into another AA meeting or something. Promise you won't tell Edd?"  
"Honestly Tom, how old are you?" He rolled his eyes but a quick look of surprise flashed over his face when he realised Tom was actually very upset over Edd possibly finding out, not upset enough to cry, but upset all the same.  
" _Please_ Tord. Don't." Tord nodded and moved to sit down on the bed, then pat the spot beside him for Tom to sit too, which he did, and then Tord used his foot to kick to door shut for privacy. Matt was nosey.  
"Tom, you needed those meetings to help you."  
"It was the therapist, alright?! God Tord, I hate her. I hate her stupid face, and all those lies she told us, and she said everyone had a problem with their parents, and that I had anger issues!" He rattled off all at once, face tinged pink from the lack of a breather he took. Tord put one awkward arm around his shoulders.  
"We just want you to try, Tom. That's all. You're already doing well by not drinking now." Tom looked over at the empty can of pop that he'd been unconsciously holding this whole time and was surprised. It was almost second nature for him to take a can of lager, and he'd definitely seen a full six pack in the fridge because Edd had been busy and forgot to clear it out, maybe Tord was right.  
Tord put one hand over Tom's in what was either a comforting gesture or a romantic one, he couldn't quite tell, and Tord didn't speak, just ran his thumb over the back of his hand and sat quietly.

"How do you feel about this?" Tord asked after a long while of nothing. Tom looked up from where he'd been intensely staring at the denim pattern of his jeans.  
"Alright, like I said, I just need to get into a better group with an actual therapist. I'll be fine."  
"No, about this." Tord gestured to their hands.   
Tom felt his world suddenly stop, he felt horribly embarrassed that he'd misread the situation and Tord's feelings.  
_Oh God no. Why me?_ He thought, the longer he took to respond the less Tord smiled.  
"Listen, Tord. You're a nice guy and everything, and we're mates now, but I don't... y'know. I'm not gay." It wasn't a lie, he'd never had any interest in guys, or girls really, he'd dated a couple of girls but found that he didn't really have feelings for them.  
Tord nodded stiffly and removed his hands, he didn't look too upset like Tom had thought he would, just embarrassed.  
"Yeah, sorry. I really should have asked before I said anything else. It's fine." He smiled and patted Tom's back, and Tom felt as if he'd overstayed his welcome in his room.  
"I think I'm gonna go get some Chinese. You want to come along?" Tord shrugged, looking over at the PC and deciding to procrastinate on his work for now, he hadn't really eaten today.  
"Yeah, as long as you're paying. It's a wallet's nightmare in that place."  
"As long as you don't try fuck me." Tom jabbed right back and Tord rolled his eyes in amusement.  
They were still friends, at least.

**Author's Note:**

> Insipid - Without distinctive or interesting qualities.


End file.
